Sandeep's Blog !!

Moving to Singapore from India : Questions Answered !!

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:21:00 +0000

Thanks to my readers in 2011 who ask me questions via email or comments. I try to respond to as many as I can and to my best of knowledge.

There is this one particular question which I get asked in different ways. Look the following! :

Question 1) : I am Mr. X salary offered to me is SG$6000/month

What will a 1 Bed Room condo, in a reasonably close by area, cost?
Should I take an additional 10% margin over the numbers posted in your 2010 blog for 2012 cost of living?

I am paid close to INR 120,000 pm (After Tax and monthly saving of 40,000) in India do you think the salary offered in SG, I can meet a similar/better life style with the similar savings?

Question 2) Is it enough for us to live comfortably with that salary in Singapore as we do live a very sophisticated and comfortable life in Chennai/Bangalore/Mumbai/Pune !.

My Answer : First of all there is no simple answer to these questions!. But I will try to make your decision simple as I have gone through similar stage in my life when I was moving to Singapore. What you need to is to breakdown your questions in to different logical ones rather than defining them like 'Comfortable' , 'Similar' or 'Reasonable' !!.

Most important is to understand that moving to a new country is your decision and you are trying to do this for your better prospects in life/career. You are moving to Singapore because you decided so and not due to the fact that you could not move to USA/UK or Australia!!. Once you are clear in your mind about the objective of moving to Singapore. The questions related to money part can be sorted out quickly.

Now coming back to comfortable salary and maintaining similar lifestyle as in your present country/city.

Questions you need to ask yourself :

What is present Salary + Perks ?
How much do I spend today per year ?
How much do I save today per year ? Yes per year makes more sense!
In my current occupation/job, what is my growth potential ?
What is my current lifestyle ? here are some examples!

I go and party every other week
Play a game or Swim everyday
My kids go to some activity every other day and that costs more than 30k INR p.a.
I like to travel every 2 months and spend INR 1 Lac on each trip
My Grocery bills in India goes up to INR 30k p.m.
I enjoy driving and have 20 Lacs worth car which I drive!

Does above questions makes you more confused? Should not !! ..In fact these are the questions which will put value against the terms like 'Comfortable', 'Sophisticated' etc .

Now coming back to moving to Singapore from India. The biggest question readers ask is "How much I would be able to save if I get $xxxxx.xx Salary ?".

This depends on following lifestyle options you will choose to when you start living in Singapore! :

Accommodation : Condo or HDB, 2 BHK or 3 BHK ..Remember there is no 1 BHK!
Grocery : From Fairprice(a branded Shop in Singapore) or from Mustafa only. Indian Vegetables only or will have local ones.
School : Local or Indian International or US/AU International.
Transportation : Local Public Transport(Bus,MRT) or Private Car or Taxi!
Activities : Club Membership, Gym, Swimming etc
Outside Food : Indian or Local or International Cuisine.
Recreation : Going to Pub, Movie every week, Fine Dining every 2 weeks!
House Maid: DIY or Keep one! . Singapore has given an excellent choice in this area but it sets you back by $700 pm.

I hope this gives you more insight into Singapore Lifestyle!. Also comparing lifestyle in India and Singapore is different when it comes to overall facilities. Singapore is an International country with most sophisticated and modern facilities to offer but with a cost. So if you think that you can maintain similar lifestyle as in India, please do some comparison based on above questions and you will get a fair answer yourself.

Most of the time we calculate cost of living for basic necessities only like Accommodation, Grocery, School etc. You need to consider that when you start living in for longer duration(within 2 months infact!) you would need other things as well in life to live 'Comfortably' :)

You surely need to define the most important question of all, that is "Savings per year". If you keep this goal very clear in mind and with realistic calculations(they are still approx!). You will be able to meet your goal fairly good. Remember don't keep savings goals on per month basis rather on per year basis. This makes life easy!

Best of luck for your moving decision to Singapore and Happy New Year 2011!.

Please email me on the above email address and I will respond

Cost of employing maid in Singapore

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Sun, 15 May 2011 07:06:00 +0000

Many people ask me this question ..How much does it cost to keep maid in Singapore ?

The best thing about Singapore, which many people envy who live in Australia or USA / UK is able to keep Domestic worker(often called as 'Maid') here in Singapore with not much of a cost. Many people like this in Singapore as it is allowed govt. It works out very well and quite cost effective compared to what you get in USA/UK/Australia!!.

Maid Nationality : This is the first question comes in your mind when deciding about the FDW in Singapore. I would suggest to go for Philippino, as we have experienced their work and they are good. If you are planning to bring maid from your own country like India or Malaysia, agents help in that too. I would still prefer getting a FDW who is already in Singapore as it helps a lot as they are aware of surroundings and culture.

Salary : Monthly salary is $340 or more depending on experience and maids nationality. You need to work out with the maid and agency to agree upon mutually.

FDW Levy : Please refer to this "Work Permit Information(FDW)" by MOM. It is very good source of information. A Foreign Domestic Worker (FDW) levy of $265 (normal) or $170 (concession) is payable every month.

Agency Fee : Agencies will charge somewhere between $300-600 for getting you the FDW. It is negotiable as they try to adjust that with maid's salary too sometimes.

Agency Loan : When the FDW is directly coming from their home country. A loan is generally there of about $2000-2500 which maid generally clears using her salary. You can mutually decide how the maid and agency would recover this from their salary.

Things to get for maid before getting her home : This is an important task. You need to make sure that the maid is comfortable at your house, as she will be working for you. These are the following things we bought/arranged for her :

New Mattress - $50
A separate room for her to sleep- as we had 4 room flat.
Basic Toiletries
A small cub-board to keep her belongings.

Food for maid : This was nothing different that what we are eating. As we prefer eating Veg at home, we had mutually agreed with her before signing the contract that she will have eat the veg Indian food at home. Mostly maid are fine with it as long as it is agreed before.

Indian Cooking : This was the huge surprise for us!. Our maid learned the Indian Cooking in just few weeks and she was able to cook most of the dishes. You need to give them in writing the ingredients once and show few basic things. They generally are good cook and learn quickly.

It is important to understand that maid is away from family(from wherever they come from) and it takes some time for them to get adjusted to new environment. As I have spoken to many friends, mostly all of them have good experience about maid in Singapore. Make sure that you get a maid from a agency which is known to you or your friend that way you can trust them well. Agencies also help you to resolve some conflicts in case you have with maid and helps you get a replacement if the maid decides to leave for some reason.

You need to make them understand your rules at home and they generally follow that strictly. If you have kids, you need to be careful and make sure that you have make them understand about all things you want them to take care about kids. Keep all your valuables safely and never assume everything is going to be 100% perfect. As the laws in Singapore are very much followed, maids are aware that they need to be lawful and within MOM guidelines.

Disclaimer : All above is based on my own experience and you need to apply your own judgement before employing maid. Also refer to Ministry of Manpower for any queries you would have.

Flipkart : India ka Apna Amazon!

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 04:39:00 +0000

I just love this website. Since long time I was looking for a Indian website which will give me power to order the books which I keep looking at Amazon and do not order due to various reasons. Although Amazon rocks with its reviews and gives lot of confidence when buying a book.

Flipkart has changed the scene with lot of books available, both Indian and International Edition. When I first used their service I smelled Amazon :) ..Well later in a magazine I read that both the founders had a small stint @ Amazon :).

What I like :

Intuitive website design
Good collection of books, both Indian and International authors.
Get to order a book which is recently released Internationally
Super fast delivery - almost got all my orders till date within 3 days of order placed
Good packing in bubble wrap
Cash on Delivery option : This is something everybody will love as you not get bothered by Internet Payments.
Good search mechanism
Free delivery of books

What needs improvement:

Make website design with less clutter
Special attention to Book Reviews and Book view page should have less Ads!
Please give Bookmarks with all books :)
Need to have star rating on book reviews
Give more discounts on International Editions!

Overall the idea rocks!. I am sure they will go long way with their innovation and offer more discounts on international editions to have more buyers! I have not used their other items which they sell too like Mobiles, gifts etc.

I wish they can also influence some International publishers to publish Indian Editions of books available outside India.

I wish them good luck!

Cost of living in Singapore 2010 for married couple with one kid

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 17:24:00 +0000

Its been long time I have written about cost of living in Singapore. 2010 is mid way and I guess it is right time to share some more information with my readers!. In start of 2010 in Singapore, not much rise in rents is seen. But now I heard from my friends that rents are increasing as they are trying to renew their contracts. For long time I wanted to share this post about cost of living in Singapore for married couple with 1 kid. As many of my readers were looking for this information. It is easy to search now a days with google, but if you get something handy it works best :)

If you look at cost it is not much changed from 2009 for most of the things except rent which is increasing in few areas. As I have mentioned in my earlier post too, rent is something you can control too by staying away from city center. As commute in Singapore is very well managed, you reach office pretty fast with combination of MRT and Bus in peak hours.

Kids Expenses : Kids are expenses are something one need to calculate with some flexible budget as most of the activities you are not aware that you will start or not. It also depends how old your kid is when you first arrive in Singapore. As the time goes, kids expenses does go up in any country. In Singapore you have lots of activities for kids which are all year round, like Swimming, Skating etc ..Which normally in India are restricted to warm seasons!. So make sure that you make a good estimate of kids expenses before decide to jump on a plane to Singapore!.

Indian International Schools in Singapore: This is very important decision for Indian Kids. I get lot of emails of readers asking for information on fees and why Indian International School etc. About fees, I have already provided that information, but you need to verify from School websites as these things do change yearly. If you plan to stay in Singapore for short term(3-5 years) I would recommend to go for Indian International School for your child. Although it is expensive as compared to Singapore Local Schools, it makes life much easier for the kid when he/she returns back to India. All the the Indian International Schools in Singapore are affiliated to CBSE. Based on your location you can decide the school. In my personal opinion NPS is a good school which is started recently there. DPS and GIIS are also well managed schools.One good thing about these schools is that generally you get admissions easily whenever you need and fees are published on websites. There are no donations, just refundable deposits.

I hope this helps you. Please do email me if you need any more specific information.

Related Posts :

Cost of living in Singapore in 2010
Preparing for Moving to Singapore
What is comfortable Salary in Singapore

Yakult in India!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:22:00 +0000

Those who don't know, Yakult is a fermented milk drink!. I remember my good old days of driving Energy Drink ....not many stalls see now having that milk bottle. Now we have Yakult in India!. I used to drink this in Singapore.

In HDB apartments in Singapore there used to be Yakult Ladies delivering Yakult at door step. Now we have similar concept in India too. If you like flavored milk, you will like Yakult too!...try once!

Daily Piyo, Healthy Jiyo !!

Some not so popular places to visit beyond Singapore during hoildays!

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:08:00 +0000

There are many places(or countries!) you can visit outside Singapore. Many people argue me that there is not much enough places left within Singapore to explore ..yeah! ..I surprise them asking a question "Have you been to macritchie reservoir ?" ..The answer is "Where is that!!". So here you go ..its an myth that being in Singapore for many years you have no new places to go for :).

For the sake of tourists or expats who are here for short duration and want to explore some places around Singapore .this may be a handy list of quick gateways from Singapore !..here is my favorite list !:

Bintan : I have been to Bintan 2 times and its a good place to start exploring outside Singapore. 45 mins from Singapore you in Indonasia ! ..Its a small Island part of Indonesia and has many many resorts for your to enjoy!. Recommended to at least stay 2D1N to enjoy!. Check out my post on Bintan Island Resorts.
Batam : Less than hour journey in a ferry from Singapore get you to Indonesia again!. Again this is a small Island with just some resorts and places to take stroll around!..Nothing spectacular but good to visit once!. 1 Day visit is recommended.
Johor : Johor is so close to Singapore that you can really walk across a bridge from Singapore :). Lot of people go to Johor for shopping and buying things in bulk. If you have a car and Malaysian Visa already then this is the place you can try as your first adventure outside Singapore !. If you happen to go in mansoon season, plan to visit to Kota Tinggi. A water fall near Johor. If you do not plan to venture out much beyond Johor, 1 Day is good enough.
Pulau Ubin: A small island very near to Singapore. Recommended to go a day trip only. You can do nature walks or enjoy cycle riding around the village!.
Malacca: Malacca is 2.5 hours away from Singapore. It is in Malaysia. So if you have Malaysia Visa, before going to popular destinations like KL, Genting. You can goto Malacca to experience historical places in Malaysia. Recommended to spend 2D1N at this place. You can also find 1 day tours conducted by Bus from Singapore to Malacca.If you are interested this could a nice drive from Singapore.

I still thinking about more places ..till then this is a draft post but published!

Use Google Maps to rent a most conveniently located Apartment in Singapore!

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:55:00 +0000

Well I got this idea recently when trying to explore Google Street View for Singapore. Many readers ask me this question regarding "How to go about renting flat in Singapore?". I believe the most important question for the new comer in this country is to find good apartment for rent which offers best convenience. As you start living in Singapore, you will understand that living with good convenience is the best thing happened to you. Although all over Singapore you will find all necessities of life close to you. Thanks to excellent infrastructure. Still at a times you are pressed for time and you want to commute faster on a daily basis to your office or do not want to put off the idea to go to a park/mall on a weekend just because the MRT/Bus Interchange itself is 20 mins away :).

You got it right!, I am talking about renting an apartment near MRT/Bus Interchange. It makes a huge different when you have an option to MRT which is 10 minutes away or must wait for the bus to take you there!.

So how Google Maps is going to help you here. The instructions are here :

1. Suppose I decide to rent my apartment in Hougang Area.
2. The area is spanning 5 sq kms. So where do you rent the apartment so that you are just 10 minutes walk away.
3. Goto Google Maps. Search for "Hougang MRT, Singapore"
4. Once you zoom in a bit you will see "NE14 Hougang".
5. Ok you know the MRT, now how do you decide how far I should go from this central point in the map to make sure I am not too far from MRT that I need to take a bus to go there or walk for long time!.
6. Make the NE14 Hougang as your center of the map and zoom in so much that you read : 200 ft / 100 m on the scale shown on the down left of the Google Maps.
7. Now this is the area on the map should become a guide to you for renting your apartment in Hougang. So by taking this example itself, I can either look for apartments in Hougang Ave 10 seen on this map or Hougang Ave 7 seen in this map.

Again this just a guideline. Once you see the area you need to consider other factors like the nearest bus stop, super markets like Cold Storage/NTUC FairPrice etc etc. This is where Google Street View comes to rescue and you can take the advantage of that to become familiar with the areas surrounding your preferred location!

In most cases the MRT stations and Bus Interchange will have a Super Market, Shopping Mall and other facilities like Medical Clinics to serve you!.

I hope this helps !

cheers
Sandeep

Moving to Singapore! ..Prepare yourself....

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:23:00 +0000

If you have already decided to move to Singapore, this post will help you to plan your move more systematically. What I will share with you all is my own personal experience on moving to Singapore 3 years back. I expect readers share their experience too which will help others.

Plan things in advance : This is very important. You need at least one or two months in advance to plan things properly before you can actually take a flight to Singapore!. This also depends on whether you are moving as a bachelor or with family.
Create a task list of all MUST do things before you move : I am not big fan of task list, but this one helped me a lot. I used task list to manage all my tasks I had to do before I moved out of India. To start with just list down all things comes to your mind as things you need to manage. This could include things like bank accounts, rental agreements, billing arrangements, selling your stuff or moving to some other place etc. Once you make the random task list go through it to make sure you categorize into 2 labels : Must DO and Optional. Tasks which are must do are the ones which requires your physical presence and important like Bank Accounts, Selling your Car, Settling Employer dues or incoming funds. Optional are stuff which can be managed even if you are not living in India.
Money matters first! : Yes give importance to money matters first. If you are leaving your current employer make sure that you give them a date 5 days prior to your actual leaving date from current location. This way if things gets delayed, you have some days to manage those things!. Settle all current bills such as Utility bills, Telephone bills etc. Take stock of all your bank and investment accounts to see what things you need to do.
Internet Banking is superb!: Till date if you were not having your bank and other investment accounts internet enabled, please do so immediately. Most of the banks are pretty fast in enabling accounts for internet. So just go to your bank and make sure you accounts are accessible from anywhere in the world!.
Selling or moving your stuff : If you are not living in your own house or you do not have anybody taking care of your house then you need to decide on moving or selling your stuff on a immediate basis. There are many ways you can sell your old stuff like eBay, craigslist etc. If you are moving some of the household goods to some other city, keep sufficient time in your hands to manage that as well.
Book your Air Tickets in Advance : This is more important if you are paying yourself for your relocation. There are many airlines now fly to Singapore from India like Kingfisher, Singapore Airlines, Air India, Malaysian Airlines etc. Instead of just looking for cheap tickets, look at the value provided by the airlines like check-in baggage allowance, cancellation policies, date change charges etc. I would prefer Singapore Airlines anytime for their flexibility in terms and conditions. One must check the T&Cs before booking. As these keep changing.
What to carry to Singapore from India : Well this depends on whether you are moving goods using Air Cargo or just trying to manage stuff with your check-in baggage allowance. As a guideline I will suggest following things to carry if you are a family :

-- Basic Kitchen Utensils : For Indian specially Kadai!
-- Clothes : Formal as well as casual wear
-- Some Kitchen Appliances you are used to : Like a Grinder, Blender etc
-- Avoid carrying woolen clothes except a jacket or 2 in case you need to travel out.

School Admissions in Singapore : This one is the most stressful part for parents back in India. Once you have decided, make sure that you make all arrangements with your school in India to get all documents and date finalized with school to get your deposit back!. In Singapore you need not worry too much about admissions in Indian International Schools as there are 3 of them and most cases your kid will admission in any one of them depending on your location preference.

I hope this helps everybody who is looking for some tips while moving to Singapore!.

cheers
Sandeep

Cost of living in Singapore for Bachelor not sharing Apartment - 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:44:00 +0000

So here I am with another post for my bachelor friends who do not want to share apartment. Which is a preference of many I know. Well it is a personal choice and it does works out well for the convenience and privacy one prefers for herself or himself.

In Singapore as you know that Rental expenses make most % of the your salary. So when you are not sharing apartment, all the things like utility, internet, grocery etc is also not shared. Another observation I made in these years is that one who do not share apartment as bachelor with others, generally stay on Condo’s !. So there you go …..

As you can see not sharing apartment does increases your rent as a major expense. You should notice that again these are some of the basic expenses you need to incur for living. You can try and squeeze the budget for sometime, but understand that once you have spent sometime in a country your expenses will gradually go up.

The biggest assumption in all my calculations here is that no annual expenses or large medical expenses are budgeted. They are important and you must add those to the monthly cost of living figure. For a bachelor if you are flying to any Indian destination from Singapore, you would need to pay around $400-$1000 as air fare for single trip for economy class. You must add these expenses in your calculations in case you want to build a plan for yearly savings calculations!

Taxi is another expense which you need to manage. As you start living in Singapore, you will get used to taxi. That’s when you need to budget more for Taxi expenses. Most of the time depending upon your lifestyle and where you stay in Singapore taxi use can be avoided. Singapore offers good public transport.

Lot of people ask questions regarding 1 Bed Room Apartments in Singapore. Unfortunately there are not many 1 bed room HDB flats and I have not see any 1 BHK Condo’s. So your best bet is 2 Bed Room Condo. The Rent given is just an estimate, it does changes depending on economic conditions and area.

As usual, if you have any questions do email me and I will be glad to answer if I can!

enjoy

Sandeep

Technorati Tags: cost of living singapore 2009

Cost of living in Singapore for Bachelor Sharing Apartment - 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:16:00 +0000

So finally I am writing the post which many readers of mine were asking for!. I thought its a good idea to update the Year 2009 estimates for cost of living in Singapore for Bachelor’s. Again as previously explained, this is my own estimation and should be taken as guideline only. Cost of living does differ for everybody based on their lifestyle. So please do care while taking any decision based on this figure.

As you can see above, the estimated cost of living for a bachelor who is sharing apartment with 3 people works out very well. As the rent is the major part of the living, sharing makes you save a lot!.

As these expenses are on moderate side. For example if you add Alcohol in your list the total will be something else!.

This would give a good idea for a bachelor about expenses in Singapore. Sharing the expenses and apartment is not for everybody, I know many people who do not like to share the apartment or cook at home. So in that you need to read my next post!.

enjoy

Sandeep

Technorati Tags: cost of living singapore 2009

Cost of Living in Singapore for Bachelor not Sharing Apartment

Pune Flu Capital of India ..for now!

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 06:46:00 +0000

Well I was in Pune just before it was declared Flu Capitol of India by our reporters. I remember Prem Chopra’s dialogue from movie “Badnaam Honge To Kya Naam Na Hoga!” :). Coming from Singapore which acts too fast for any Communicable Diseases. Which is very much required Singapore as the population here is very dense and wide spread can be tough on people as well as economy.

I was in Pune in Last week of August-09 and what I saw that many hospitals are just unaware of the fact that someday the H1N1 or Swine Flu will visit their city too. In 2 of the major hospital’s I visited in Pune, right from receptionist at OPD to Consulting Dr. no one was wearing mask!. Well now you already know how mask is the possible key for avoiding the spreading the flu.

Now you will see everybody is looking for a mask in the city.

I know people will always give this excuse about too many people and stuff like that!. Reality is that there was no plan in place, people in India would have just copied what other countries did when the outbreak started few months before it came to India. People somewhere on Internet were also seen quoting that due to hot weather in India the virus will not sustain!. I believe everybody know that India has all kinds of weather!

I came across this post from Amit Paranjape, to which I agree ..specially the point about the people wearing masks but not wearing helmets ! ..

When I was travelling from Singapore to Mumbai, I had mixed opinions about how the situation about H1N1 will be handled at the airport. The scene was like this. Reaching Mumbai Airport at midnight, after a long walk from the Plane to the Immigration Checkpoint there were bunch of people sitting to scan the group of 20+ people using a small digital camera. I doubt whether it was serving its purpose. There was 1-2 staff carrying a H1N1 declaration form, distributing to people. Many of the people were unaware about what to do with that form and what is the next from here. When I looked saw around 3-4 desks organized to collect those H1N1 Forms. Well by the time people understand what to do and how to proceed, in that small area there were just to many people in close proximity and talk to each other and exchanging pens to write on the forms!. So there you are mingling with someone probably having H1N1 already! . Also for some reason during my flight the airline did not provide me the Immigration Form which usually they provide. So after filling that Form which had those usual questions I passed on to the desk and went towards the Immigration clearance.

With new airport terminal at Mumbai I was expected better management of space for these special occasions.

The important point to note in above is that only 1-2 staff from the airport I could see wearing masks!

After the immigration clearance when I went to Pre-Paid taxi counter, the person behind the counter was telling me to hurry and run after paying the money to him. The reason was that they were expecting all taxies to go on strike that night!!

I would suggest following precautions during air travel :

Use mask(preferably N95 Mask)
Use of Mask helps in too ways, possible infection from others and when people see you wearing mask, they stay away from you! – Double Protection!(I actually observed this when I was flight!)
Carry Alcohol wipes with you always and use them frequently during the travel.
When you reach your destination, do make sure to use hand sanitizer before touching other places in your house!
Take bath at transit if you have time between flights.

I hope people develop more awareness after these situations.

Cost of renting a Car in Singapore!

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:17:00 +0000

Well after long time I plan to write something!. This time about cost of car rental in Singapore. Renting a car in Singapore is expensive affair given the fact that there are costs involved other than just the rental for the car!. Which offcourse applicable to other countries also. But here in Singapore it is more during peak times in a day when the ERP is higher.

Most of you would be interested in knowing about the car rental rates. Recently I visited a car rental shop and got its rate card. Now its the time to share it with others !

here you go :

Update : Some problem in updating the image of the rate card. Will do so when blogger allows me to!

Cost of lunch or dinner in Singapore ?

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:18:00 +0000

I have been thinking about writing a detailed post on many things. But somehow I thought lets start with something simple to share with everybody. Specially with my Indian friends as they are my top readers in last one month!.

If you are looking for Indian food for lunch or dinner in Singapore, they are ample choices available Island Wide(pretty word used by all business people!). So whether you are a tourist or person living here, finding Indian food is not tough. Most of the places near offices are there, you will find some food court(A place where all food stalls are located) which serves Indian or Indian type(whats that?!) food. Keep looking for names like Komala's, Jaggi's, Sarvana Bhavan, Pangaat or similar sounding Indian name!.

Also look for Indian Muslim Shops who offer Roti Prata!. This is something Unique to Singapore and many people like it.

Now time for the cost. The cost of the food is depending on where you eat. Most of the places the South Indian dishes cost around $5 to $8 depends on what you eat. A simple south indian meal which has Rice, Daal(Some call it Dhaal in Singapore!), Veg Curry, Chapati and some Indian pickle will cost you around $6+ at Komala's or Sarvana Bhavan. If you are looking for North Indian food, I have tried Jaggi's at 2-3 outlets and food is always good and consistent in quality.If you are fond of some sweets you can get Gulab Jamun for $1 or $3 depends on quantity!. You like Aloo Paratha or some other stuff paratha, you get that too!. You can order Paratha Set which consists of 2 stuff paratha's, one curry, yoghurt and some pickle for $6 or $7.

All the costs which I gave above are for the food stalls you see in Food courts or typical Indian food places. Most of the time you will be fine with less than $10 bill for Indian Food. If you are paying more than $20 for Indian Food in Singapore either you are in some mall like Vivo City or at Orchard where the ambiance is what making the food costly!. So decide what you want ..Self-Service Food Stall with good food or leisurely dinner at Orchard Road or Boat Quay!

About western food it is around $8-$10 depending on area. I have been to couple of Mexican places were it would cost around $20+ per person.

Now which is the best place to eat Indian Food for dinner ?

My favorites are :

Anjappar at Race Course Lane, Little India
Bombay Cafe @ Suntec
Jaggi's @ Tanjong Pagar Complex
Chutney @ Orchard Road
Rang Mahal @ Pan Pacific - btw the lunch buffet here costs only $40! - I would recommend as you are getting authentic Indian Food with 5* ambiance here.

My favorite place for eating South Indian food is Murugan Idli Shop @ Syed Alwi Road.

Some Tips

Ask your friend to recommend you a restuarant before heading for a 30-45 minute commute to have a great dinner!
Expensive food is not necessarily will be having great quality
Do not compare taste which you still have in memory from India!...unles you are in Rang Mahal @ Pan Pacific!
Generally there is no Tipping in Singapore as most of the restuarants will add the service charge in the bill. If you still like the food you are most welcome !
Avoid going to Food Courts late in the night(Food do not taste that fresh) or at peak times(12-1pm) in the afternoon. You will be spending most of the time in finding place for sitting!

Hope this helps!

cheers

Sandeep

Anybody listening? Yes .. FREE Text To Speech for my blog now!

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:12:00 +0000

Yesterday I found Odiogo. Its a FREE service to convert your blogs to a Text To Speech on the go Blog. Its an excellent idea. The entire setup for my blog took just 10 minutes. You need to give your email id and blog URL. Then you get a confirmation email from Odiogo and that's it your blog is now available for download as an MP3 or readers can directly click on the button on your posts to listen them online. Also an audio feed is available on this URL : My Audio Blog!

One more way to communicate with my readers. I found the service good. The voice and accent in the speech is quite good. Also it does make use of punchuations I believe. Need to experiment more with blogs now!

Let me know if anyone found any alternative to this kind of service ..of course FREE.

cheers
Sandeep

What is comfortable salary in Singapore ?

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:54:00 +0000

Recently I am getting lot of comments which in my Cost of Living in Singapore post around comfortable salary in Singapore. Also some readers directly give their salary they are being offered in Singapore and ask whether this is enough. Most of these questions are covered in my Readers Mailbags

Even then I do get questions like these. So I thought of writing about it.

Q: What is comfortable salary in Singapore ?

A: Now do you think any one can answer this ? Meaning of comfortable can be different for everyone because it actually depends on what your are earning now and what is your expectation when you start living in Singapore. Singapore offers comfortable living to all levels of people who come here. So defining what is comfortable for you is upto you. If you are a bachelor and sharing apartment with 4-5 friends then you save big amount on rent. This way your comfortable salary comes down as compared to someone who is married and not sharing the apartment.

More than earning comfortable salary, I believe people are looking for more and more savings when they are moving to Singapore or for that matter USA. It cannot be like that. Earning and savings are two different things as it all depends on how much you spend(expenses) over a period of time. So always try to put the savings for a period of 1 year or 3-5 year term rather than trying to see how much you will start saving once you land here or any new country.

Q: I am going to get $3500 or $2500 will it comfortable for living ?

A: This is a typical question again. As you can understand that there are some basic costs involved in any country you live in. You can only reduce some of the stuff like Rent, if you are sharing with someone. But some other costs like Grocery, School Fees, Utility Charges, Commute etc is something for which you must budget some minimum amount depending on your own lifestyle.

So the answer to above question is something you need to figure out by researching the facts(Google is your best friend!) and probably asking questions to your friends.

If you still have more specific questions, I will try to answer as much as possible based on my own experience. Which will provide good starting point for you to research further.

cheers

Related Posts :

Tips for Renting Good Apartment in Singapore
Cost of living in Singapore for Married Couples
Cost of living in Singapore for Bachelor not sharing Apartment
Cost of living in Singapore for Bachelor sharing Apartment
Cost of living in Singapore for Married couple with one kid

Restuarant Review: Delicious Soup in Singapore!

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 07:11:00 +0000

If you are in Suntec sometime. Do try the Souperlicious @ Suntec Tower 4 1st floor. Till today they had only 1 veg option, but now they have 3 in total ..wow ..that makes lot of sense. It seems they had many requests from people like me asking for Veg. Soup. So the options are

Minestrone
Broccoli
Tomato

I have tried Minestrone and Broccoli, both are excellent. They have regular bowls and large bowl options. Along with soup to make your meal more better they have Salads and Sandwitches too :) ..If you order a Combo(Soup + Salad + Choice of Drink) it comes to around $10+. Which is good deal for healthy meal.

Their preparation is good and the soup is always hot for your to serve. But do avoid going there when they are closing, as the taste seems not so fresh at that time and also you might not have the choice of soup you are looking for!.

So if you are coming to Suntec for shopping or visiting Flyer nearby. Do try this shop for their delicious soup :)

Enjoy!
Sandeep

Power of Less! ..use Craglist or eBay or whatever!

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:09:00 +0000

I am great fan of Leo. I am yet to order his book Power of Less. I had very good experience with Craigslist today. We recently bought a new bed for our daughter and I was thinking how should I dispose off her old baby bed. I though of ebay first!. Also at the same time I had put in the ad in craigslist.com ..its a great website with no frills advertising and connecting with buyers for your stuff which you want to sell. I posted the Ad and got 3 responses in just 2 days!. Today one the guy who was interested came in and took the bed :)...May be I was lucky to get fast response and deal over just in 3 days ..but I found this very useful.

So instead of using the ebay or Ezlink Yahoo Group. One can look at craiglist as well. So to multiply your chances of selling fast do post on all websites you know in your region.

Now back to Power of less!. We have decided to sell many of the things which are just lying in our house with no use ..e.g. a DVD Player. As we bought a new one recently(well that's against Power of LESS!), we need to sell off the old one. Why we bought the new one and how it benefited us in some way is a interesting story and I will post about that next time!

So being in Singapore which is your preferred website for selling off old/new items ? eBay or craiglist or ezlink @ Yahoo Groups ..or somthing else ..please share your experience for others benefit!

cheers
Sandeep

Renting House or Apartment in Singapore : Some tips!

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:28:00 +0000

If you are renting a apartment or house in Singapore, you would find this post useful..hopefully! ..Also by writing this post I want to attract more readers to share their experience while renting flat in Singapore. By doing this many people who are new to Singapore will get to understand how the flat rental process works in Singapore.

In most of the cases you have to find a good Agent(Individual or Company)
Try to reach to your friends or colleagues to get reference for a good Agent/Broker to find a flat for you.
Decide in advance about the Rent you are comfortable to pay for a flat in Singapore. Keep 5-10% tolerance in case you find something too good!
Be clear in your mind about HDB, Condo and Landed Property facilities. This helps you narrow down your search. There is no point in searching both HDB and Condo.
Only rent an approved unit with stamped agreement in place.
Have frank and open discussions with your agent to avoid any trouble later during finalization of the deal for rent.
In general for $2500 p.m. rent, you need to pay 50% of the rent as commission to the agent. If the rent exceeds $2500 you don't need to. This is a general guideline and depends on many other factors sometime.
Use Google Map and narrow down on the area in which you would like to rent a flat. Anything between 45-60 mins of commute is normal in Singapore!
Look for these facilities near to your flat:
MRT Station should not be more than 3-4 bus stops away
Bus Stop should be near by
If you have kids make sure that school is not too far - Specially you are planning to put your kid in Indian International School, you need to make choice of school first and then decide in which area you would like the flat to be.
Make sure that you view at least 5-6 flats in the same area before you make a final decision.
Do not make hasty attempt to finalize something just in case Agent/Broker is pressurizing that this the Best you can get!
There are ample flats(both HDB and Condo) in Singapore and no need to hurry.
Make sure that you understand the terms and conditions in the contract. If any doubt take your time and take help of someone who understands the contract.
General guideline is that if you are doing 6 months contract you need to pay 6 months rent in advance. If 12 months contract, 1 month rent in advance. You need to pay 2 months of rent in advance to owner if you are going for 2 years contract.
Please check all the details(furniture, lighting, electronics, fittings, fridge, TV etc) before you finalize the deal and contract. Make sure to click a photograph of the flat in detail for your and owners records.
As far as possible do not pay any money to either owner or agent in cash. Use Cheque (if you have a savings account, you can always order Cashier's Order from Bank) or Bank Transfer.
Do not pay more rent in advance than it is normally given. e.g. if you are renting for 12 months, pay only 1 month rent as advance deposit. Do not pay more than that even if the owner is ready to lower the monthly rent. If you feel that you are being cheated or asked for more money just back out from the deal and look out for another flat.

I can't think of anything else at this point. Hopefully my readers will add some more points. I will add some more if I think through.

enjoy
Sandeep

Search Words : Singapore flat rental , Singapore house rental , Tips for renting flat in Singapore , House rental in Singapore , Information about renting house in Singapore

Suze Orman's New Book : 2009 Action Plan : Available for FREE download! ..Hurry!

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:16:00 +0000

I just read on the Blog My Wealth Builder whom I have been following since he started blogging. I have read Suze Orman's book earlier and they are great. I have only read one book of her : Th e Road to Wealth.

I believe that she has good advice for all kind of people. But as everybody says one needs to follow extra caution before exercising any action plan given by anybody. Please consult your financial adviser before taking decision on your financial matters.

2009 Action Plan sounds good heading and timely book on Personal Finance :) Once I read it I will post my opinion about it.

Please do hurry as the offer to download the book is till January 15th 2009 only!

Happy New Year 2009!

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:31:00 +0000

I wish a very Happy New Year 2009! to all my readers. 2008 was wonderful and eventful year. It was great blogging in 2008 and will continue to do so in 2009 to help my readers. In 2008 I did more posts than I did in 2007!.

In 2008 I started responding to the questions of readers with my "Readers Mailbag" series. It was good experience for me to try that and I hope I will continue to do so in this year too. There are many more posts are pending from my side which I though I will write in last 1 month, but did not get ample time to start with!.

So my resolution or wish list of this year is to write more frequently and try to write on more subjects which will help people around the world!. So watch out for my first post in 2009 soon!

Appreciate your comments as always. Please let me know if you need any specific information about Cost of living in Singapore, Jobs, Travel, Attractions etc..I will always try to provide my opinion to help others.

cheers and enjoy 2009!
-Sandeep

Money Transfer to India from Singapore..

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 05:23:00 +0000

Many people use Electronic Money Transfer services to transfer money to India from Singapore. I though of sharing my experience with everybody here. This will help you to make an informed decision about the services generally offered in Singapore and also I hope my experience in dealing with these parties helps.

Primarily I have been using two services

Above services requires DBS Bank Account in Singapore. I would prefer DBS Savings bank account due to lower charges from them. Also understand that in Singapore every bank has Savings and Checking bank account seperatly, as in India we know that this is typically bundled together. So when you open an Savings bank account, you don't get a cheque book and also the deposit is lower. For availing cheque book facility, you need to open Checking Account and that has more deposit(typically SGD 3000 or more). The other option when banks offer checking account with no deposit is when you deposit your salary with them every month!

Money2India
This is a ICICI Bank service. They offer to transfer money electronically in 1 day to most of the Indian Banks who have Electronic clearing facilities. I found the service very good and reliable. They offer HTTPS security too. Most of the cases the money is transferred to the Indian bank in 2 days(it all depends when you initiate the transaction from Singapore!).

Quickremit
Although their exchange rates sometimes looks better. The website is managed by timesofmoney.com and does seem very professional to me. Many times I have found that after entering the login details, you are taken to the first page and when you click for transfer..it says you are logged out!. This typically happens on weekend's :) .. I am not sure whether other customers have also faced this problem. Again I am not very comfortable with dealing with money transfer services which are outsourced by HDFC to someone else. Not sure why HDFC is doing this.

The other good option to deal with this international money transfer is to have bank account with some of the International Banks like Citibank, HSBC or DBS etc(but again DBS may not have branches all over India). This way your money transfer is instant.

I have personally used Citibank and found it very good. As the Money is transferred instantly to my Citibank Account in India.

Most of the people are looking for better rates while transferring the money, that's why they look for these 3rd party services like money2india, quickremit, western union etc. But I guess it is better to deal with one bank and do transactions with them.

For example for today although Yahoo Currency rate shown is INR 32.52 for 1 SGD. Money2India is offering INR 32.20 and Quickremit is INR 32.19!. So it does not make difference which one you use. So it is better to use some good internet service which is reliable and offers support in case some issues. I believe in that case using your own bank is always better!

I hope you find this information useful!.

Please let me know if you know any other good services to transfer money to India from Singapore.

enjoy
Sandeep

Terror Attack in Mumbai

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:18:00 +0000

This is very shameful act by some people on Mumbai, India. If I were to write something to say on this ..I would copy my favorite Actor Amitabh Bachchan in his Blog here

It is so very true that there is not point in being resilient at this stage. We all must act and do something about it. The first thing come in my mind is to make sure that every Indian Vote for their party rather than somebody making proxy votes and then we get a govt.

Its more than 45 hours now and the operation is still on. It is really disgusting to see all this our country.

I Salute the Security personnel who are fighting against this terror.

I hope everything is ok in coming hours. God Bless India.

Reader Mailbag # 6 : Cost of Living in Singapore and others!

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:17:00 +0000

Hi Sandeep,

Awesome information you have posted here. I am negotiating an offer with a Big 4 for Singapore. My family size if myself, my wife and kiddo (4 months) to be precise.

What wud be the breakeven that I shud negotiate given ur experience there?

-zibbs

Hi zibbs!,

Thanks for the praise! I have very less information to answer your question. I guess what you are looking for is a good saving potential while negotiating your salary with Big 4(What does that mean?..does it mean PwC, KPMG or MS or somebody else!). Any way I guess you need to do a detail analysis of what you are saving in your home country and what would be the saving potential when you start earning and spending in Singapore. This is the most critical part in decision making to move from your current location.

Also the role you will be getting in new location also matters a lot. It also depends what are your opportunities in current location if you change there itself. So you need to drive the decision based on many factors than just money. If your intention is to just make money than your decision making is more easier.

So think carefully and let me know if you have specific question in mind which I can really answer with some data. Remember that what you will be saving in first year of living in Singapore and what will be the saving in 2nd year and so forth will be quite different as you start living here your needs starts growing same time as your child!

cheers

Sandeep

Sandeep, Good work Keep it up Does the HBD flat have TV ?
regards -manish

Well yes most of the HDB flats on rent I have seen will have TV set. Although it will be CRT one and may not as good as your specification sometimes. If you are lucky you will get a 29" TV too!. So whenever you are looking for a HDB/Condo flat make sure that your essential list is ready on which you do not want to compromise at all...e.g. Good TV, Fridge, Washing Machine, Cooking Range, Wardrobes, Sofa Set etc ..As repair service is quite expensive depending upon the part change required. You need to make sure that all the things in the rented flat are looking good(not too old!).

I need to know how to invest in MF through SIP from USA? I have Suvitha account in Citi Bank in India. Will it be possible to buy through the account? How will i be able to submit the Pan Card details? Or do i need to get the NRE account? Please suggest in detail about this. Iam new to this and need help. Is this the right time to start MF(SIP)?Any particular fund?Please kindly suggest.Thank you so much....

-Anonymous

I guess investing in MF while an NRI in USA the rules are different by many AMCs. You need to check that. Citibank Suvidha account is for Indian Residents not for NRI as far as my knowledge goes. You need to have an NRE or NRO account in order to invest in MF in India. Also PAN card and KYC is must now a days.

About your other question whether this is a right time to invest in MF in India. I am not quite sure about right timing. But I believe in some strategy which you can read here :

Mutual Fund Investment when sensex is low!

I am not a Financial advisor, so I am just writing what I feel like and also do myself. You are welcome to comment on my blog!

cheers

Sandeep

Test post from Windows Live Writter

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:20:00 +0000

Its been long time I have not been posting anything. This is mainly due to busy schedule in work and also some personal commitments.

I plan to start my posting again starting this week. So was thinking of trying some blogging tool for a change!. So here I am trying Windows Live Writer.

This looks cool!. But need to explore more with this ..So adding a picture below :

enjoy

Sandeep

How to move your blog to your own domain ?

noreply@blogger.com (Sandeep) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:42:00 +0000

Simple ..Use Google !. I have been using blogger for more than 2 years now since I started blogging. I was thinking about creating a domain for my blog and the day I thought about hosting it on a domain other than blogger.com, I had many questions in my mind. How will I do this ? What will happen to my current blog ? How much will it cost ? What about privacy ? How will I move contents of my current blog to new website ? etc etc .....

Well..Google made everything easy. I could setup my new domain icare2share.com and move(or I should say re-direct) my current blog contents to new url. The entire process took just not more than 10 minutes. Also your good old blogspot.com address remains valid too!

Google and Blogger.com has simplified all this process for you. Blogger creates your domain with GoDaddy.com and also hides your personal website information as a free service(which I guess generally cost extra!)

Your current blog gets redirected to the new url and all gets rolling smooth in just 30 mins. Wow I was impressed. Things which I was thinking would be complicated are made simple. So if you are thinking to have your custom domain to host a blog or want to convert current one..give it a try ..all you need to do is to think about a good name for domain and keep credit card ready to pay for $10 fees for 1 year!

enjoy
Sandeep